The Memphis basketball team started off the season scorching hot, but the back half of January was not good for the Tigers. Not too long ago, Memphis was 15-2 on the season overall and 4-0 in AAC conference play. The Tigers got all the way up to #10 in the rankings, but now, they are dealing with a losing streak. A disastrous loss at home to a struggling Rice basketball team on Wednesday was the latest hit, and this team has a lot to figure out right now.

Memphis basketball is now 15-6 overall and 4-4 in conference play after a four-game skid. They have slid way down in the AAC standings, and they are also now unranked. This is an ugly stretch, and head coach Penny Hardaway knows that him and his team have to be better.

“Four losses in a row for this team,” Penny Hardaway said after the loss to Rice, according to a video posted to Twitter by Devin Walker. “It's clear what it is, you got to play on both sides of the ball. You got to be unselfish offensively. You got to be together defensively. It is what it is. But it's all on me though. I'm taking (the blame), I'm not blaming anything on a kid. I'm gonna keep fighting. I'm gonna keep scrapping. It's very ugly right now for us, because of the way that we're playing. And that's a reflection of me.”

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Losing streaks happen in college basketball, especially when a team has a stretch of games against a lot of good teams. That wasn't really the case for Memphis, however. On this four-game skid, they have lost games against USF, Tulane, UAB and Rice. USF and UAB are near the top of the standings in the AAC, so while Memphis was expected to win those games, they aren't really bad losses. The loss to Tulane was a road game. The Green Wave aren't very good, but road games are always tricky in college basketball. The loss to Rice is a tough one to explain, however.

Rice came into this matchup with Memphis with a 7-13 overall record and a 1-6 mark in conference play. They are one of the worst teams in the AAC, and they were 14.5-point underdogs. They led comfortably for most of the game until a late surge by the Tigers, and they ended up pulling off the upset with a 74-71 win. That was a brutal loss for Memphis.

Now, Memphis basketball desperately needs to end their losing streak, and they should have a good chance to do it on Saturday when they host Wichita State. The Shockers are 9-12 on the season, but if the Tigers play like they did against Rice, they can lose to anyone in the AAC.